Untitled EP

Odd Future;
2012

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Music from this release

It was Domo Genesis that named his album Rolling Papers and had an ensuing mini-beef with Wiz Khalifa, but he's not the only member of Odd Future who likes to smoke weed by the acre. Despite his wild-eyed, aggressive stage presence, Hodgy Beats' worldview is as influenced by drugs as any member of the group, and it's evident on his recently released Untitled EP, which is the first major work to come out of the Odd Future camp to rely almost wholly on collaborations outside of its tight knit circle. The roster of producers (Juicy J, Flying Lotus, the Alchemist) is impressive, and it shows that Hodgy has a good idea of what he wants his solo music to sound like, and that ends up being the EP's greatest strength. What it lacks in originality it makes up for in cohesion and the result is a solid, sonically pleasing mixtape, if one that only stands out in the context of Odd Future itself.

Despite any reputation he might've picked up due to his affiliation with OF, Hodgy Beats is a pretty typical rapper. This has its disadvantages (it would be hard to imagine any person calling him their favorite artist), but it also has its advantages (MellowHype's BlackenedWhite is much easier and fun to listen to than any of Tyler's albums). It's pretty easy to enjoy Untitled once you accept that it won't be the source of any thinkpieces or essays, but that said, it does lack the crackling energy and unpredictability of his work with MellowHype. Taken together, the two records paint a full picture of who Hodgy is-- with BlackenedWhite indebted to the hyper, moshing persona that we see on stage and Untitled representing the guy who hangs around smoking weed and reblogging photos of cars and cats on Tumblr-- but it's the former that grabs you and demands your attention.

That's only a minor issue though, as Untitled knows what it wants to say, how it wants to sound, and it accomplishes both of those things in a digestible nine tracks. The production comes straight from the Curren$y/Wiz Khalifa school of music for stoners, with some beats relying on soothing soul samples and others nodding towards jazz and easy listening. The production palette isn't a stark departure from what you hear on most OF albums, but someone like the Alchemist has been doing this for decades, and there's a welcome professionalism here that stands in contrast to the amateurism that can make even the best Odd Future albums jarring listens.

Hodgy spends most of Untitled talking generic shit, and on the one hand he's a perfectly competent rapper who can twist words well enough to make you perk up every once in a while, but he's still not an overwhelming personality on his own and his songwriting is still developing. On a track like "Cookie Coma", Hodgy asserts himself adequately, but despite his technical aptitude, it's hard not to wish that the beat had been saved for some forthcoming collaboration between the Alchemist and Curren$y. And then there's something like "Lately", which makes a feeble attempt at writing a hook and in the end comes off sounding like a nursery rhyme.

In the end, whether Hodgy's able to push past these sorts of generics is probably not that big of a deal. Untitled isn't blowing the doors off of anything, but plenty of rappers have trouble releasing records this tight and thematically consistent, and ultimately, Hodgy makes his name and money with MellowHype, and that group has shown no signs of slowing down.